Pam Skaggs of Gulf Shores, a proponent of abortion rights, told the committee that before the Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion, she knew friends who got beaten in the stomach or underwent coat-hanger abortions. But people with money were able to get abortions even when they were illegal, she said.

“Before Roe v. Wade it was horrible,” Skaggs said. “I would hate to go back to that.”

JoAnn Cummings of Decatur, an abortion rights advocate, recited statistics on poverty and hunger and said women have abortions because they know their economic limitations.

“Women choose to terminate their pregnancies because they can’t afford them,” Cummings said. “And they’ve been doing that for thousands of years.”

Cheryl Ciamarra of Alabama Citizens for Life took exception to that.

“Because you’re poor, you deserve a death sentence?” Ciamarra said. “To me, that is almost communistic in thinking.”

Susan Watson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said there is no value in requiring the 48-hour wait because women already think carefully before choosing abortion.

Watson said the 48-hour rule would be a tactic intended to bully women into changing their minds.

“It implies that women are stupid and that we need politicians to hold our hands and guide us,” Watson said.

The committee approved HB 489 with Sen. Billy Beasley, D-Clayton, casting the only vote against it.

Besides the 48-hour bill, the other three abortion bills that passed the House are:

-- HB 490, would prohibit abortions in cases where a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can occur as early as six or seven weeks.

-- HB 493, would require doctors to provide women with information about post-birth hospice services before aborting a fetus with a lethal anomaly, a defect reasonably certain to cause death within three months after birth.

-- HB 494, would tighten the law on minors receiving parental consent for an abortion.

The Health Committee chairman, Sen. Greg Reed, R-Jasper, said he expected the committee to vote on those bills next week.

Sen. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, said he was opposed to abortion but was concerned about passing legislation certain to result in a federal court challenge.

“I don’t want to pass legislation that says we’re going to throw it out there to force the Supreme Court to give us a decision,” Ward said.

Eric Johnston, an attorney and member of the Alabama Pro Life Coalition, said that the fetal heartbeat bill is the only one of the four that has been blocked by a federal court after passing in another state.